Nelson Mandela

News about Nelson Mandela, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Apr. 28, 2015

In Transit blog; Nelson Mandela's residence in South Africa's Shambala Private Game Reserve is now available for travelers to rent by the night. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

South Africa commemorates one year anniversary of death of Nelson Mandela, its first black president; country seems to cling to his memory as an antidote to intractable challenges of land whose leaders stand accused of corruption and failure to provide jobs and basic services for millions of impoverished people. MORE

May. 6, 2014

African National Congress is counting on its dead heroes like Nelson Mandela to keep its current, sullied leadership in power in South Africa; ANC is poised to win overwhelmingly in the nation's fifth democratic election, granting a second term to Pres Jacob Zuma, who is beset by scandal. MORE

Dec. 28, 2013

Samuel G Freedman On Religion column observes that University of Fort Hare, Christian missionary school in South Africa where Nelson Mandela received his college education, has received little mention in Mandela's biography; says that while school has been tainted by reputation of elitism and colonial history, it and others like it produced many of South Africa's leaders and introduced them to subversive notion of equality before God. MORE

Dec. 17, 2013

Thamsanqa Jantjie, man who provided incomprehensible sign language interpretation during Nelson Mandela's memorial service, was part of a mob that burned two men to death in 2003. MORE

Dec. 16, 2013

Funeral for Nelson Mandela begins with large scale event in Qunu, South Africa, tying pomp of state ceremonies to individual strands of Mandela's life, and ends hours later with simpler moment at his family burial site. MORE

Dec. 15, 2013

Thousands of mourners line streets to bid raucous, heartfelt farewell to Nelson Mandela, whose body arrived in Mthatha, South Africa, in his native Eastern Cape Province ahead of state funeral and burial in village of Qunu. MORE

Dec. 15, 2013

Letter From Europe; lesser tribute, far from final farewell to Nelson Mandela in South Africa, yields reminder that he was not alone in struggle for what he called the rainbow nation; someone leaves two bunches of roses on bust of Oliver Tambo in park in Muswell Hill, England; Tambo was Mandela's partner in a law firm and then in leadership of the African National Congress. MORE

Dec. 14, 2013

Diplomatic Memo on Pres Obama's eulogy of Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa; says words, intended both as celebration of Mandela and chastisement of himself and African leaders for failing to live up to legacy, called for more accountability in sub-Saharan Africa; some see gap between Obama's words and deeds on continent. MORE

Dec. 14, 2013

South African government says it is looking into claims that Thamsanqa Jantjie, man accused of providing bogus sign language interpretation during Nelson Mandela's funeral, was also once charged with murder and other serious crimes. MORE

Dec. 14, 2013

Thousands of South Africans file past body of Nelson Mandela for third and final day before it is transferred to his childhood village of Qunu for burial. MORE

Dec. 14, 2013

Paul Simon recalls how the spirit of Nelson Mandela infused the music of his 1986 album Graceland and his tours with South African musicians. MORE

Dec. 14, 2013

T O Molefe Op-Ed article contends Nelson Mandela died with his dreams for South Africa incomplete; laments that real racial harmony, social justice and equality seem, in some ways, farther away than ever. MORE

Dec. 13, 2013

Thamsanqa Jantjie, man accused of masquerading as a sign-language interpreter during Nelson Mandela's memorial service, tells interviewers that he is a violence-prone schizophrenic and had seen angels descending; assertions add one more bizarre turn to a story that has raised questions about the security at the ceremony. MORE

Dec. 13, 2013

Tens of thousands of people wait for a chance to pay final respects to Nelson Mandela on the second of three days his body is lying in state in Pretoria, South Africa. MORE

Dec. 13, 2013

Howick Journal; thousands of mourners have flocked to Howick, South Africa, in the days since Nelson Mandela's death to visit a sculpture that marks the spot where he was captured by the apartheid police; sculpture is a tribute to Mandela's work as a radical militant who took up arms against a regime that brooked no dissent. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

South Africans flock by the thousands to pay their final respects to Nelson Mandela, most beloved of a generation of leaders who liberated their country from apartheid; lines snake through the capital of Pretoria to view his body lying in state at the Unions Buildings, seat of official power where Mandela was sworn in in 1994 as South Africa’s first black president. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

South Africa’s deaf-advocacy group says the man responsible for providing sign-language interpretation at the memorial for Nelson Mandela is a fake; South African government is still at a loss to explain how the impostor, whose identity remains a mystery, had not only breached security checks but had even gotten the job. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

Resident of Qunu, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela grew up and will be buried, remember him as just another villager; among his rural roots and all its tranquility, residents say he treated everyone like family and immersed himself in the customs of his Xhosa culture like those around him. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

Nicholas D Kristof Op-Ed column holds Americans can uphold spirit of Nelson Mandela by advocating for political prisoners and human rights around the world; calls on Pres Obama to make a stronger push to close prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to further honor Mandela's legacy. MORE

Dec. 11, 2013

Dec. 11, 2013

Nelson Mandela's memorial service in Soweto, South Africa, draws tens of thousands of South Africans and a crowd of global VIP's, including Pres Obama and more than 90 other heads of state and government; gathering to celebrate Mandela's life is virtually unmatched in modern times. MORE

Dec. 11, 2013

Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column contends global outpouring of respect for Nelson Mandela suggests the world is saying goodbye to a unique leader, not just a great man; says Mandela united people behind a common purpose by using his moral authority to inspire; laments that such leadership is absent in many countries today. MORE

Dec. 10, 2013

African National Congress will face what may be its most fiercely competitive election since it came to power in 1994, and will do so without Nelson Mandela, its most important moral figure; there are signs that the party could slip below 60 percent of the vote, an important psychological figure for a party accustomed to landslides. MORE

Dec. 10, 2013

Heads of state from around the world are heading to South Africa to take part in memorial to Nelson Mandela, presenting that country's government with a security test, logistical challenge and protocol quiz all rolled into one. MORE

Dec. 9, 2013

Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary legacy of freedom overshadowed his complicated journey to support free markets and a free economy. MORE

Dec. 9, 2013

Soweto Hotel and Conference Center, luxury hotel in Soweto, South Africa, sits only 30 yards from tin shacks of sprawling shantytown; complex has come to represent persistent class divisions that late South African leader Nelson Mandela worked to narrow. MORE

Dec. 9, 2013

South Africans across country begin week of commemorations of Nelson Mandela’s life with day of prayer and reflection. MORE

Dec. 9, 2013

New York Yankees say they will commemorate Nelson Mandela’s triumphant visit to Yankee Stadium in 1990, by placing a plaque in Monument Park. MORE

Dec. 8, 2013

Black South Africans remain far behind white when it comes to income and education, and by some measures are falling further back; while one of the centerpieces of Nelson Mandela's presidency was racial reconciliation and the restoration of racial equality at the ballot box, social and economic equality has been harder to achieve. MORE

Dec. 8, 2013

Schedule is set for state funeral of former South African Pres Nelson Mandela as people around country prepare for days of mourning and commemoration. MORE

Dec. 8, 2013

Bill Keller Op-Ed column considers the question of whether anyone should care that Nelson Mandela was a Communist; examines way South African Communist Party influenced Mandela's thought. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Nelson Mandela's death is in many ways the end of the line for cohort of leaders who carried the battle against apartheid in South Africa from a lonely and seemingly hopeless struggle to a moral and political victory cheered by much of the world; leaves behind an impressive legacy, even if the future of Rainbow Nation, remains uncertain. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Born frees, generation of South Africans born after end of apartheid, find it is almost impossible to grasp what it was like to see Nelson Mandela emerge from prison in 1990 and become president in the nation’s first fully democratic elections four years later; critics of these young people, among them older South Africans, contend that they are apathetic and apolitical being unaware of the history of the struggle that made their lives better. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Nelson Mandela was almost worshiped by many South Africans for his role in installing multiracial democracy, but political observers say he was never above reproach. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Dignitaries and common citizens from around globe gather in Soweto, South Africa, to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela after Pres Jacob Zuma's announces a week of ceremonies dedicated to his remembrance. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Charles M Blow Op-Ed column memorializes life of Nelson Mandela, saying he provided a blueprint for those who seek justice, equality and freedom; holds Mandela's defining qualities were perseverance and a profound capacity to imagine change. MORE

Dec. 7, 2013

Death of Nelson Mandela coincides with release of Weinstein Company's biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, possibly giving film edge in Oscar race. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Twenty-three years have passed since Nelson Mandela first visited the city after his release from prison in South Africa, but the experience of seeing him still touches many New Yorkers. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Nelson Mandela, who led the emancipation of South Africa from white minority rule and served as his country’s first black president, becoming an international emblem of dignity and forbearance, dies at age 95; Mandela's quest for freedom took him from the court of tribal royalty to the liberation underground to a prison rock quarry to the presidential suite of Africa’s richest country. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Death of Nelson Mandela leaves South Africa without its moral center at a time of growing dissatisfaction with the country's leaders; Mandela's insistence on forgiveness over vengeance after decades in prison made him a potent symbol of the struggle to end the country's system of racial domination. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Editorial eulogizes Nelson Mandela, who has died at age 95; contends Mandela fully deserved the legendary status he enjoyed around the world; maintains it will be up to a new generation of South African leaders to resolve their countries' problems, and that all of them owe a historic debt to Mandela. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Op-Ed article by Ghanian Pres John Dramani Mahama recounts idolizing Nelson Mandela as a young man; holds Mandela's lasting legacy is providing a new moral compass for both South Africa and the entire continent. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Op-Ed article by Prof Zakes Mda recalls the Nelson Mandela of his youth, who debated African nationalism in his living room with his father; notes what was striking about Mandela was that he was a man of contradictions; maintains Mandela leaves a proud legacy of freedom and human rights, tolerance and reconciliation; laments some of his compatriots are trampling on that legacy. MORE

Dec. 6, 2013

Jere Longman essay recalls that while imprisoned, Nelson Mandela supported the international sports boycott that helped isolate South Africa; says that as president, Mandela used sports to heal and help unite a society that the racial segregation of apartheid had brutally divided. MORE

Dec. 1, 2013

Justin Chadwick biopic film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, based on Nelson Mandela's memoir, presents him as an inspiring leader with complexities. MORE

Nov. 29, 2013

Stephen Holden reviews film biography Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, directed by Justin Chadwick. MORE

Sep. 2, 2013

South African Pres Jacob Zuma announces that Nelson Mandela, country's former president, has been discharged from a hospital after spending 12 weeks there; also notes that the ailing anti-apartheid leader, who remains in precarious health, will continue to receive intensive care at home. MORE

Aug. 25, 2013

South African government says former Pres Nelson Mandela remains in critical but stable condition. MORE

Aug. 3, 2013

Saturday Profile of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African Pres Nelson Mandela; before her fall from grace, Madikizela-Mandela was one of the key public figures in the country's long struggle for nonracial democracy; during Nelson Mandela's hospitalization, she is ostentatiously trying to re-enter the public arena and emphasize her claim to part of the Mandela legacy. MORE

Foreign Desk

In this racially charged nation, Nelson Mandela is that rarity of rarities: a hero to blacks and to many whites. Since his retirement in 1999, he has been mediating peace talks in Burundi, prodding white businessmen to donate money for rural schools and urging black officials to distribute lifesaving AIDS drugs.

February 12, 2003worldNews

Foreign Desk

Looking solemn in a gray suit and silk tie, President Nelson Mandela watched South Africa's second post-apartheid Parliament get on with the business of democracy today and choose the man who will replace him as the country's leader, Thabo Mbeki.

June 15, 1999worldNews

Foreign Desk

The power that had belonged to whites since they first settled on this cape 342 years ago passed today to a Parliament as diverse as any in the world, a cast of proud survivors who began their work by electing Nelson Mandela to be the first black president of South Africa.

May 10, 1994worldNews

Foreign Desk

President F. W. de Klerk announced today that Nelson Mandela would be released from a prison outside Cape Town on Sunday afternoon, ending 27 and a half years of imprisonment for South Africa's most celebrated black leader.

February 11, 1990worldNews

Foreign Desk

Nelson Mandela has been in prison since 1962 and has become, through incarceration and steadfast defiance from within the prison walls, South Africa's leading black hero, the man, according to a recent newspaper survey, whom 90 percent of the nation's black people want unconditionally freed.

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October 23, 2014, Thursday

A decision by South Africa to deny the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a gathering of former Nobel laureates in Cape Town appears to have backfired in a way that is drawing increased scrutiny to China’s heavy-handed tactics.

October 6, 2014, Monday

Hong Kong citizens pushing for more democracy are indeed, as People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper, said, colluding “with external forces.” At the top of the list of foreigners influencing the movement: Gandhi, the Rev. Dr....

Multimedia

A captivating view of the incredible spirit of one of the world s most fascinating people, this full-length documentary follows Nelson Mandela form his early days and tribal education to his election as South Africa s first black president. 1996 Aca